Digital pens are known in the art. These devices typically look, feel, and operate similar to a normal pen, but include electronics that provide additional functionality. Some digital pens have sensors capable of tracking movement of the pen tip to capture what the user is writing. These pens may be configured to record the user's pen strokes and store a digital version of the user's writing. Educational systems involving handwriting recognition are also known in the art. Information relating to digital pens and educational systems can be found in the following U.S. Patent and Patent Application Publication Numbers, the teachings of which are hereby incorporated by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 6,831,632 to Vardi; 2005/0125228 by Samuels; U.S. Pat. No. 7,120,385 to Marggraff; U.S. Pat. No. 7,175,095 to Pettersson et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 7,853,193 to Margraff; U.S. Pat. No. 8,038,538 to Stucke, Jr. et al.; 2012/0029907 by Loggins et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 8,427,344 to Margraff et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 8,638,319 to Edgecomb et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,831,632 to Vardi discloses a hand-held handwriting recognition device that may perform arithmetic computations based on information received from the handwriting recognition circuitry and display the result. U.S. Pat. No. 8,427,344 to Marggraff et al. discloses a digital pen that may interpret the user's writing and display a spelling correction. While these systems may be useful in certain contexts, they are of limited value in an educational setting.